S&P rates Deerfield Dakota B

S&P said it removed its ratings on Deerfield Duff & Phelps LLC from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on March 13 following the company's acquisition announcement, and affirmed the B corporate credit rating on the company.

The outlook is negative.

The agency also affirmed the B issue-level rating on the senior secured first-lien term loan. The 3 recovery rating is unchanged, indicating an expectation for meaningful recovery (50%-70%; rounded estimate: 50%) of principal in the event of a payment default.

At the same time, the agency assigned a B corporate credit rating to Deerfield Dakota Holdings LLC, a holding corporation that wholly owns Duff & Phelps.

S&P said it expects leverage pro forma for the acquisition to increase to 6.9 times as of year-end 2017.

The agency said the negative outlook reflects a view that the incremental debt tied to Duff and Phelps’ proposed transaction will weaken the company's credit measures over the next 12 months.

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